Absolutely incorrect... BMW has sold too many E36 sedans and E46 sedans for this to be true. if you don't think there is a market of owners DYING for a car that actually is the size of what a 3 series used to be... . unlike your F80 5 series..

Mercedes has it figured out - CLA
Audi has it figured out - S3
BMW still lagging..

If you do want then you need to be heard, I mean really heard it should be ricocheting of the walls in Munich not like the Hamster squeak in a cookie tin that seems to be for an M2 Cabrio.

oh yeah? Well Scott26 i appreciate you taking the time to post here and tell us your knowledge....it's nice of you to do so.

how about BMW make a PROPER small 4 door sedan with RWD and an inline 6 (turbo whatever) and some real compact, old school BMW dimensions and proportions and let it weigh, i dunno, 3200 lbs?

I think THAT would create waves.

This FWD Civic-wannabe with a BMW badge does nothing but tell people that BMW is just like any other carmaker....ordinary and unwilling to take risks. Honestly the new Civic looks better than this.

You can fool the CLA and A3 crowd with this....quite easily....but BMW is just becoming more and more ordinary by the day......there isn't a single NON-M car in the BMW lineup that screams "BMW!!" anymore...just a bunch of marketing exercises with fat people in suits taking notes.

There was a time when you could walk into a BMW showroom and pick ANY NON-M model and know that it would be a great car to drive.

now you can walk into a showroom and know that any NON-M car will be underwhelming and boring to drive!

Unacceptable!

+ 1. Jumped shipped to porsche on my daily driver and I am now collecting past bmw's that "stand for everything that sets bmw apart" from when they knew how to make proper driver cars.

But BMW has long ago determined that the size of the market that will only buy this car if it is RWD is smaller than the size of the market that does not care which wheels drive the car. And since its cheaper to build it on their UKL platform, shared with many models across the BMW and Mini brands, that's the strategy that the board has approved.

cheaper to build never translates to be cheaper to buy with bmw.. it'll be a 28k stripper that will still command a ridiculous price for creature comforts found in an elantra standard.. load it up and it'll be more expensive than a 3er

you know there will be more of fwd models coming! the appliances are invading

Just because it's FWD, doesn't mean that it'll be boring to drive.

I wouldn't drive one, but I can understand why BMW is building one. They're late to the party. Audi A3's and MB CLA's have been dominating the segment, lining their pockets. VW needs that A3 money now more than ever...

Using RWD wouldn't help BMW to be cost competitive. May as well leverage the FWD platforms you got at Mini.